Model Railroading > WWII Military Flat car Loads - Photos

Here is a gold mine website showing military loads of all kinds on flatcars during WWII.
http://ajax.lva.lib.va.us/F?func=file&file_name=find-b-clas72&local_base=CLAS72
I searched for "tank", "tanks", "railroad", "flat car", and "shipment"

I have not found a link to simply 'view' the collection, it has to be searched...
Enjoy! -Andy Laurent

Photos from Newport News, VA embarkation port:
http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/02/079.jpg M4 and an M3 unloading at Newport News Feb '43

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/02/075.jpg M3 and M4 Feb '43 showing blocking on flatcar

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/02/076.jpg same as above scene

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/02/074.jpg M4 close up on a GTW flat Feb '43

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/32/096.jpg M10 tank destroyers on flats Aug '45

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/07/049.jpg M4 loaded 1 per flatcar Sept '43

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/07/048.jpg M4 same as above Sept '43

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/02/083.jpg M3 on light flatcars Feb '43

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/02/077.jpg T2 tank recovery unit on PRR flatcar Feb '43

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/08/071.jpg M10 Tank destroyer on IHB flatcar Aug '43

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/01/030.jpg M3 tank on flatcar, end view Oct '42

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/11/017.jpg Unloading 500 lb bombs from boxcars Jan '44

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/11/027.jpg Same 500 lb unloading

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/02/093.jpg Misc earthmoving equipment on flatcars Feb '43

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/02/085.jpg "Barber Greene" ditcher on CP flatcar Feb '43

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/02/095.jpg "Diamond T" tar spreader on flatcar Feb '43

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/02/094.jpg Road scraper on flatcar Feb '43

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/02/092.jpg "LeTourneau carry-all" on flatcar and light guns Feb '43

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/34/002.jpg Misc vehicles/trucks being loaded after return Jan '46

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/16/036.jpg 4.7" AA gun on SP flatcar April '44

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/19/037.jpg Stacked Jeeps on flatcar July '44

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/19/036.jpg More stacked Jeeps on flatcar July '44

From the subject listing of one photo about M4 tanks:
"Each [M-4] tank is 1,743 cubic feet in capacity and is 661,490 pounds in weight."

Want to run some Marklin on your WWII era layout?
http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/30/039.jpg Captured German chemical 'buggy' June '45
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Loading an "Amtrack" onto an N&W flatcar in a scene that begs to be modeled:
http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/33/062.jpg Amtrack loading Nov '45

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/27/028.jpg Army boats on flatcars Jan '45 Portsmouth, VA

A search for "freight car" gets you a series of interior views of 155mm artillery shell loading

Really great stuff! Interesting pic of the guy unloading the bombs. Evidently, African-Americans were assigned that kind of task almost exclusivly! In San fransisco, a number refused duty and were court marshalled after an explosion killed several men. Safety was routinely ignored, making an already dangerous job really bad! But heck, the army figured they were only...

That explosion was at Port Chicago, was this reference to San Francisco with regards to Hunters Pt and the refusal of duty after the explosion at Port Chicago?

stivmac Wrote:
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> Really great stuff! Interesting pic of the guy
> unloading the bombs. Evidently, African-Americans
> were assigned that kind of task almost exclusivly!
> In San fransisco, a number refused duty and were
> court marshalled after an explosion killed several
> men. Safety was routinely ignored, making an
> already dangerous job really bad! But heck, the
> army figured they were only...

I'm pretty sure it happend at Mare's island naval station, but I could be wrong.

I finally found a shot of M4 tanks being delivered under tarps (on the NYC). Some are loaded 2 per flatcar, some 1 per. Looks like a winter time shot, so maybe that is when tarps were used.

http://www.allpar.com/history/military/arsenal-of-democracy.html

Andy

http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/VTLS/SC/16/036.jpg 4.7" AA gun on SP flatcar April '44
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That looks like an NP flat car, not SP.

It happened at Port Chicago, what is now part of NavMag Concord. (This happened to be a Naval incident)

Black soldiers, pictured in several of the shots, were not used in a lot of areas, but were heavily employed in various Transportation Corps units. Hence the loading and unloading laborers, but they were also the drivers in the Red Ball Express which rushed supplies from the ports to the front line units. Graves Registrations units, ambulance units. My Dad was a white officer in a Motor Ambulance unit with all black enlisted members. Stationed in Camp Shelby awaiting moving to the Pacific for the invasion of Japan. He was always less than complimentary about the way his troops were treated both by the Army and the local populations outside the bases. Course at the that time he was still considered a "Yankee sodjer."

Thanks for getting my memory straight on the details. Good old Al. Z. has been visiting again!